By Linda Conlin, Pro to Pro Managing Editor
The expression, ‘like a walk in the park’ implies something easy, pleasant, and probably relaxing. A park has been defined as a large area of land with grass and trees, a natural setting. By contrast, urban areas lack color and natural elements, and can be associated with stress and anxiety. New eye-tracking research has shown that simply looking at natural elements during urban walks can offer significant mental health benefits.
The study, by Bangor University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, published in the scientific journal People and Nature, involved city-dwellers, and showed how paying visual attention to greenery, rather than human-made structures, can alleviate anxiety and enhance restorative feelings. The 117 urban residents who took part in the study, were guided on a 45-minute urban walk, while wearing eye-tracking glasses. They were instructed to focus their gaze on trees, plants, lawns and flowers, man-made structures, or a mix of both. (Bangor University. "Simply looking at the natural world in urban areas can reap benefits." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 June 2024.
Researchers tracked participants' eye movements and patterns, to determine visual attention to natural elements. Before the walk in an urban environment, participants responded to a battery of psychocognitive measures of affect, anxiety, and attention. (Cognitive psychology assumes that there is an internal process that occurs between when a stimulus happens and how you respond.) After the walk, the participants repeated the same set of psychocognitive measures, also including an additional scale that evaluated the perceived restorativeness of the walk. Participants in the green group showed marginally higher average scores in positive affect after the walk compared to their pre-walk scores, and these scores were higher than those of the grey and mixed groups. Both the green and mixed groups reported a decrease in negative affect after the walk, unlike the grey group, where no change was observed. The perceived restorativeness of the green group was significantly higher than that of the mixed and grey groups. (The nature gaze: Eye-tracking experiment reveals well-being benefits derived from directing visual attention towards elements of nature; Whitney Fleming, Brian Rizowy, Assaf Shwartz; First published: 04 June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10648)
Dr Whitney Fleming, a lecturer in Human Geography at Bangor University explained the findings, saying, "We found that the individuals who were guided to direct their gaze more frequently at green elements reported a significant reduction in anxiety, with trees showing the most substantial positive effect. The study highlights a strong link between observing green elements, especially trees, and an increase in perceived restorativeness, suggesting that even brief interactions with nature can provide mental health benefits."
